11 DECEMBER 2020
ISSUE 272
The end of an era for youth services hub
News
Professional Central Coast surfer Adrian “Ace” Buchan added his voice to growing chorus of opposition to the renewal of the PEP 11 licence for offshore gas exploration. See page 3
Out&About
After 20 years, tenants in the Gosford Parkside building are having to relocate to make way for the construction of Central Coast Council’s Gosford Regional Library.
The Central Coast’s very own opera company, Coast Opera Australia, is launching a new post-pandemic program, with Opera Afloat planned for February 2021. See page 17
Education
See page 4
Auditors in Council’s sights Auditors are in the sights of Central Coast Council about advice provided on the reporting of restricted funds.
Acting CEO Rik Hart
It appears this may have led the Council to believe it had more cash reserves than it actually did. A significant issue for the new Council was the way auditors suggested they account for restricted funds at the beginning of 2017, when the Council was still under administration from the merger. Council’s Acting CEO, Rik Hart, said there was a note to the accounts in the 2016 financial year saying the department had a voluntary policy on how to account for restricted funds. “This was done at the time allegedly under the advice of the auditors,” Hart said. The policy made it appear that the Council had an extra
$88M as cash that could be spent. Hart said that elsewhere in the annual report, the funds appeared as restricted funds. “These were published numbers, they were there if you knew where to look,” Hart said. The reporting of the restricted funds as cash meant the Council, at the beginning of the 2017 financial year, thought it had $93M in cash when in fact it only had $5M. At the end of the financial year, the Council had saved $65M from income thanks in part to $80M in operational grants from the State Government. So, it had total cash of $70M only, not the extra $88M of restricted funds mentioned at the start of 2017 in the published accounts. But even with only $70M in cash, Council started the 2018 financial year in great shape. That was July 2017 and the
council was still under administration. The councillors were not elected until September 2017. “$70M was a sound amount to have as a cash buffer for unexpected expenses and to cover for fluctuations in cash flow,” Hart said. But once the councillors were elected, the Council started spending way more than it earned in income. By the end of financial year 2018, the deficit was $22.7M. By the end of financial year 2019, another $5M was added to the accumulating deficit. Also looming by then was a $39M cut in income from the IPART decision to lower water and sewer rates for the Central Coast. By the beginning of 2020, the figures were showing that income was decreasing and costs increasing. Continued page 3
Member for Gosford Liesl Tesch is encouraging Central Coast young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to apply for scholarships now... See page 35
Sport
Avoca Beach will play host to a world-class surfing competition next year, with the Vissla Central Coast Pro set to be held from 2 to 7 March 2021. See page 40
Puzzles page 22
Office: Level 2, 86-88 Mann St, Gosford - Phone: 4325 7369 - Mail: PO Box 1056, Gosford 2250 - E-mail: editorial@centralcoastnews.net - Website: www.coastcommunitynews.com.au